I long for the days of cat pictures

How have we moved from connection and community, to mass surveillance, monopolies, and the merger of tech and state power? 

And how is it that in 20 years, despite all the harms created by Big Tech, we haven’t managed to slow it down?

By now, we all know the game; every website, every social media post, every app we interact with is part of a larger mediated environment. The content we see is personalised, and everything we do is monitored. Because that data is used to sell us stuff we probably don’t need, including extremist populist ideologies… which no one needs. 

It’s a business model we all get. One that prioritises profits over user well-being with massive externalities that global regulators have failed to curb or tax Big Tech for. Children are suffering from a rising mental health epidemic. The climate crisis is mired in disinformation. Genocides are being enabled. The manosphere is pushing its disgusting rhetoric. And there are riots on our streets. 

But to my mind, the greatest trick this devil ever played was to divide us - because in a state of division we are powerless, disconnected from each other and woefully incapable of standing together to defend our democracy and our rights. 

Big Tech — the Broligarchs — these billionaires who own it all, they suffer none of the downside, only enjoy the upside.

We see you Elon Musk, Peter Theil, Mark Zuckerberg and Marc Andreessen. We see the monopolistic stranglehold you have on our economy. How you meddle in the information space to hold elections hostage. We see how you treat the balance sheet of nation states as your own personal checking account. We see how you buy your way into power and influence. We see how you use this influence to silence your critics, intimidate the journalists and activists striving to hold you to account. 

I no longer think about polarisation as a threat. I think about it as a reality we are now living in and have to bring about change from. 

This concentration of power and capital is now on speed and here comes the era of generative AI, and it is fuelled by your data. And guess what, we have a whole bunch of new externalities we need to deal with. Cheap deepfakes flooding the information zone, job losses due to automation, the environmental costs of huge data centres, and not to mention geopolitical relations under great strain as the AI Arms race ramps up. 

50 billion of us handed our data over in the name of connection, community, entertainment and efficiency. We posted our thoughts, feelings, favourite spots, least favourite spots, we shared photos of our kids and our cats! We’ve unwittingly fueled the AI Arms race. 

And yet we don’t own any of the data, or any of the upsides, and nor do our governments. The Broligarchs are capturing it all and we as citizens are merely consumers. 

Since Trump just got reelected by having Big Tech on the ticket, the rug was literally pulled out from under us.

The relationship between tech companies and Washington is transforming into something hugely concerning. Silicon Valley has always wielded influence in American politics; lobbying, pressuring, worming their way into the state apparatus until they are impossible to remove. But, this is a different beast: a world where the interests of select billionaires has become more and more indistinguishable from US government politics.

Starlink stands poised to disrupt global telco’s, and is owned by a man who is being given a pseudo government department to preside over. 

Crypto stands poised to disrupt global banking.

Peter Thiel's Palantir and Palmer Luckey's Anduril are looking to expand already lucrative defence contracts, as is Musk.

This is the takeover of our financial markets, telecommunications and security apparatus. What is left?

This isn’t a problem just for the US, but one for nations globally. This power shift threatens our very ability to govern. Elon and Trump are signalling they will make trade agreements a bargaining chip to override local attempts at tech regulation and enforcement.

This could mean countries worldwide will think twice before putting in place laws and regulations that attempt to limit their monopolies and harms. The chilling effect on digital governance leaves a regulatory vacuum filled only by US corporate interests. No one anywhere has ever done well out of relying on US corporate interests. 

For those of us who follow closely the relationship between tech and politics, the path ahead is certain. In a way we do not wish it to be. This merger of state and tech power is not just another shift in the landscape; it is an unholy alliance and a fundamental challenge to democratic governance.The work of protecting democratic values in this new landscape has only just begun. But this isn’t inevitable. There are still many things we can do to course correct. 

How do we speak to and empower counter cultural movements like a girlo-sphere? How do we engage with the fediverse moving from concentration of power to a community of decentralised villages? How do we challenge regulators in strategic global leverage points to stall or bring about change? Most importantly, now, how do we take this story and find ways to talk about it to change narratives and engage audiences in the fightback that we so desperately need? 

We are working across all these areas, building communities and networks, and we want to bring you with us. This is a new and uncertain frontier in the fightback against Big Tech Billionaires. We desperately need your help to do so. Our funding is in jeopardy and there is no cavalry coming. Our only hope is a truly people-powered revolt. Will you help us disrupt Big Tech’s takeover of politics?

Please share this with your friends and comrades. Most importantly, please stay engaged and resist!